Photinia – Fiery Red Foliage

It’s hard to find Photinias used as feature plants rather than hedges. The new foliage colour is the striking feature of this plant. On the other hand the flower is a tad on the unattractive side. Make sure of your variety before you purchase, as there are slight new growth colour changes from one variety to another, as well as growth rate and maximum height and width differences.

Photinia “Red Robin” is probably the most popular of the hedge varieties. The Red Robin cultivar won’t get as tall as it’s more regularly occurring cousin, Photinia x Fraseri, which can grow to a 10m+ tall tree. It also has a smaller leaf, which is more suited to formal or semi-formal hedging.

Biggest Positive: Striking new foliage colour

Biggest Negative: Some varieties can look twiggy if they aren’t allowed width because of their large leaf

Name

Photinia

Red Robin, Superhedge, Everbright

Leaf

New

Red or Copper

Old

Green

Size

Medium - Large

Flower

Colour

Dull White

Size

Very Small

Fragrant

Not nice when it is

Time of Year

Spring

Ageing

Dull, almost dirty cream

Size

Height

1 - 3m

Width

80cm - 1.2m

Rate

Medium - Fast

Make Sure

There are so many varieties of Photinia and most are bred specifically for hedging. Red Robin and Everbright are the smaller leaf varieties better for smaller 1-2m hedges (both with red new growth). The larger Photinias like Superhedge have large leaves so allow some room to bush out to avoid gaps.